A Good Thing
by PhoebeSnow
Summary: Bucky never expected to meet his soul mate like this.


The mark was red, spherical with tiny tendrils spread out from it, like the way the sun looks in pictures. Sometimes, in certain light, Bucky was almost positive that it glowed. His biggest mistake was telling Steve that. For years he was never able to live down the relentless teasing from his best friend.

"Any movement from the nightlight lately, Buck?" Steve would say whenever he saw him looking at his mark with a pensive look on his face.

If he hadn't been so small and sickly back then, Bucky would've probably punched him for that. Although, he wasn't wrong. Sometimes, the soul mark would glow at night and more than once, Bucky found himself mesmerised by it.

Over the last two years of his life, he wondered when he'd meet his soul mate and who she was. Sometimes, he thought about how he used to have meaningless relationships with women in the past. It was so strange because that Bucky was so different than the one he was now.

He'd been trying to live his life in peace and forgetting the horrors of what being the winter soldier had done to his mind. But deep down, he knew there was no way he could ever fully put it all behind him.

Many nights, he'd just stare at his soul mark and hope that maybe whoever the girl was, that they'd never meet. No one deserved someone as damaged as he was. There was nothing self-piteous about his feelings in this respect. He just had too much trauma and gaps in his life to sift through. It wouldn't be fair to ask anyone to stay by his side as he tried to put the pieces back together.

Unfortunately, after the explosion in the UN Embassy in Berlin, Bucky quickly found himself a wanted man - as if he wasn't _already_ one - with a very angry Wakandan King ready to kill him for the death of his father. Being on the run was something Bucky was used to, but this was something completely different.

Fighting alongside Steve brought back some of those memories from his past, the past that HYDRA had tried so desperately to remove. Slowly, the pieces were beginning to fit, but they made Bucky's concentration a bit lax during the fight at the airport.

As he traded blows with T'Challa, the other man had gotten the upper hand and had his claws so close to his face, but a mere second before Bucky's death was certainly imminent, a red light, its form akin to that of controlled lightning cracked around T'Challa's hand and held him back from completing his finishing blow.

Then the young king was sent flying several yards away from him. Bucky let out the breath that he'd been holding inside and stood, his eyes taking in the form of a beautiful young woman with long brown hair, wearing a maroon cloak, a corset and boots. Bucky recalled seeing her in the parking garage earlier next to the man with the bows.

Their eyes had locked on to each other, even from all those feet between them, and to Bucky's shock, he felt the soul mark tingle on his right forearm. It happened so suddenly that he didn't have time to process it. All he could do was think over and over again, like a broken record, _She's my soul mate, she's my soul mate._

The girl had obviously felt her own mark sizzle because she blinked, eyes wide and full of confusion and surprise as she returned Bucky's stare. It was only for a moment, then her eyes went blank, her face showing no emotion. Not that he could blame her. This was the wrong time to get caught up in feelings.

But she had saved his life. That was a first for Bucky, as he'd never had the pleasure of a dame saving his ass in battle, but it was refreshing. Needless to say, he couldn't think of the last time anything made him refreshed besides a hot shower - oh, _damn_. He just had to think of that while looking at her. **Fuck.** What was he, a horny teenager?

"Are you alright?"

He looked at her as she came towards him with a cautious look on her face. Her accept was beautiful and foreign. It almost sounded Russian from the strength of her vowels.

There were still sparks of the red light running over her hands and Bucky fought to keep his jaw from dropping at the sight. This dame was really something. He clucked his tongue to get his mouth to move and replied with a soft, "Yeah."

"Good. I couldn't let him use those claws on that handsome face. It wouldn't do, since you're my soul mate." She smiled a little at him and cocked her head to the side.

Holy _shit_. They were in the middle of a fight and she was flirting with him. Bucky's cheeks flushed and he bit the inside of his cheek in agitation. This never happened to him. Why was he feeling so shy all of a sudden?

"Right, um, thanks." Bucky nodded at her and began to run past her. It was just his luck that he hadn't showered in a couple of days. With luck on his side, she wouldn't have noticed.

She, in turn, moved into the air, the swirls of red dancing around her body like electric flames. "You're welcome...Bucky." Then she took off, like a graceful bird.

Tiny pinpricks of pleasure ran through Bucky when she said his name and he wish he'd asked her what her name was before she flew off.

 _My name is Wanda._

Bucky heard the echo in his head and he stared up at the girl as she flew back to the others. She could communicate with him through her mind? That was...unexpected and it gave Bucky pause, which was understandable from his prior experiences with HYDRA. After the hell he'd gone through, he swore that he'd never let another person into his head again.

 _This will be different._

Another echo. Bucky licked his lips and glanced up at his soul mate again. His soul mark tingled and he willed himself to focus on the here and now. He supposed he'd have to trust Wanda and give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she had come from a similar situation and empathised. Whatever the case may be, they could figure things out later.


End file.
